Thursday, April 4, 2013

What he did?

Previously unseen video has been released showing the arrest of James
Earl Ray, the man who assassinated Martin Luther King in 1968.

The video footage shows James Earl Ray being read his rights,
arriving at prison and being strip-searched and examined by a doctor.

The fascinating insights were filmed by the Shelby County Sheriff's
office, which had purchased a video camera to document Ray's
extradition, prosecution and incarceration.

The link is video and text.

The report really does not go into Dr. King. There is no real reflection on him or his life's work.

And maybe we all know what Dr. King did. I doubt it, though.

Dr. King spoke out for racial equality. That was what he envisioned in his "I Have A Dream Speech."

He also spoke out against poverty and spoke out for workers.

He saw the military-industrial complex as a grave threat. He spoke out against the war on Vietnam and other, similar wars.

This was what made him 'dangerous' to the government. This is what threatened many who applauded his early efforts.

The New York Times turned on him savagely as he spoke about against more than racism in the U.S. When Coretta Scott King died, when his widow died January 30, 2006, The New York Times pretty much ignored it. They went overboard drooling on a White female playwright (who was friends with then editorial page editor Gail Collins) but they offered no column or editorial on Ms. King's passing. Finally, weeks later, Bob Herbert mentioned the passing in a column -- mentioned.

Thursday, April 4, 2013. Chaos and violence continue, a dig brings
attention to 4,000 years prior, Iraqiya continues to be targeted, Nouri
faces more criticism, even a Nouri supporter admits things aren't the
good, Joan Wile stands up against The Drone War, Cindy Sheehan peddles
for peace and more.

Phys.org reports
on finds a team of archaeologists from the University of Manchester are
making in Iraq -- specifically in historical Ur. The team is lead by
Dr. Jane Moon and Professor Stuart Campbell. They began with satellite
imagery before going to Ur where they've found a "complex at about 80
metres square -- roughly the size of a football pitch. They believe the
building goes back 4,000 years, going back to early Sumer and was
"connected to the administration of Ur." Ancient Digger explains:

Tell Khaiber, as the site is called, is playing host to one of the first major archaeological projects
with extensive participation by foreign scientists since the hiatus
caused by the political situation and hostilities of the Iraqi war.
Consisting of an international mix of six British archaeologists
representing four UK institutions and four Iraqi archaeologists from the
State Board for Antiquities and Heritage of Iraq, the team expects to
uncover not just monumental buildings, but evidence that may shed new
light on the environment and lifeways of the people who inhabited the
site.

CONAN:
Give us an example, if you would. Is there a piece that is of
particular significance that--or at least significance to you?

Mr.
GEORGE: Well, at the beginning, you see, we lost some very, very
important masterpieces, like the Warka vase, like the mask of the lady
from Warka, but these came back. But now one of the most important
pieces that is still missing is the headless statue, half-natural-size,
of the Sumerian King Natum(ph), which--we still don't have it. And, by
the way, this piece is inscribed on the back shoulder, and it could be
one of the rare examples, the first examples, of this mentioning the
word 'king' in the history of mankind. So this is -- I mean, every
single piece has its own significance.

CONAN:
We're talking with Donny George, director of the Iraq Museum in
Baghdad. You're listening to TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News. You
mentioned Sumer; this was an early, maybe the earliest, human
civilization...

Mr. GEORGE: That's right.

CONAN: ...speaking a language that appears to have no relation to any language anywhere else.

Mr. GEORGE: That's right. Yeah.

CONAN:
This is a great mystery and--but these were the people who first
invented the hydrographic civilization that we emerged from.

Mr.
GEORGE: That's right. I mean, modern scholars believe that the
Sumerians are the descendants of the first people coming to Mesopotamia.
Those were the people coming from the Neolithic period. Those were the
people who started the villages. Those were the people who actually,
with the villages, started the animal domestication and agriculture and a
lot of -- villages planning and, you know -- but then, in about 4,500
BC, we learn that these are Sumerians. We don't have the writing then,
but in about 3,200 BC we started having the writing, the inscription
that they themselves invented at the beginning. It was a kind of
pictographic. And, you see, this is the greatness of the people: Out of
nothing, they invent something, something very important, something that
can exchange ideas and can accumulate ideas between generations and
generations. That was the writing. Now we have it here.

The last major excavation at Ur was performed by a British-American
team led by Sir Charles Leonard Woolley in the 1920s and the 1930s.
After the 1950s revolution, which toppled Iraq’s monarchy, a nearby
military air base put the area off limits to foreign archaeologists for
the next half century.“What Wooley found were these tremendous
monumental buildings, but it’s difficult to tell a coherent story about
them because they were restored again and again and again, and what you
see is neo-Babylonian, 7th century BC – very much later,” says Moon. “He
wasn’t able to see what they were really used for and that’s where I’m
hoping our modern methods might be able to say something.”At Ur,
Wooley also discovered a spectacular treasure trove that rivals King
Tut’s tomb. At least 16 members of royalty were buried at Ur with
elaborate gold jewelry, including a queen’s headdress made of gold
leaves and studded with lapis lazuli. Other objects included a gold and
lapis lyre, one of the first known musical instruments.In the
1930s, the treasures were split between the British Museum and the
University of Pennsylvania, which funded Wooley’s work, and the newly
created Iraq museum.Moon says it’s impossible to tell whether the new site might contain similar finds.“Ultimately
we’re not looking for objects we’re looking for information.… I guess
it’s always a possibility. In archaeology you can always be surprised.”

As noted in Tuesday's snapshot, Monday evening saw Dar Addustour, Al-Parliament, Al-Mustaqbal and Al-Nas
attacked in Baghdad, their employees threatened
(five people stabbed, more left with bruises and fractures), offices
destroyed and cars set on fire (a fifth Baghdad newspaper, Al Mada, was threatened but not attacked). Al Mada notes that the National Union of Iraq Journalists have condemned the attacks. All Iraq News adds
that Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi denounced the attacks,
"Nujaifi assured that targeting the journalists is a dangerous issue and
against the dialogue and democracy in Iraq. He stressed that the
repetition of such attacks is a justification for the ignorant of the
performance of the press in Iraq."

All Iraq News reports
that the National Dialogue Front's Haider al-Mulla has called out the
security situation, "The terrorist attacks targeting Iraqis are going on
and the security forces are dilatory in their performances so Maliki
has to attend to the parliament to discuss the reasons behind the
security deterioration to solve them by adopting security policies able
to confront terrorism."

The security situation isn't good for
candidates -- not ones who are rivals of Nouri al-Maliki. With
elections scheduled for April 20th (provincial elections in 12 of Iraq's
18 provinces), Iraqiya is yet again targeted with death. This
happened in the March
2010 elections as well where Iraqiya candidates were repeatedly killed
in the lead up to the election. At least 12 candidates have been killed
this campaign season, many from Iraqiya. All Iraq News quotes
Iraqiya MP Talal al-Zubayi stating, "The organized attacks for the
candidates of the IS [Iraqiya Slate] are a part of the attempts of
targeting [Iraqiya head Ayad] Allawi due to his Arabic, regional and
international position." Al Mada reports
on the assassination of attorney Salah al-Obeidi who was a member of
Iraqiya seeking election this month. The 37-year-old male was one of 12
Sunni candidates killed this election cycle and 7 of the 12 were from
Iraqiya. Iraqiya beat Nouri's State of Law in the 2010 elections. NINA notes
that Moqtada al-Sadr today called for all Iraqis to participate in the
elections while noting reasons for them to be less than eager after
elections that appeared to produce little results. He is quoted
stating, "The reluctance in elections and no vote would be an injustice
for Iraq and Iraqis, because it would be a prelude for muggers and
secularists to take power in the councils and parliament."

Meanwhile Alsumaria notes
that Martin Kobler is declaring all political blocs are responsible for
the ongoing protests. Kobler is the Special Envoy to Iraq of United Nations
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Alsumaria also notes
that Nouri's Operation Tigris Command has surrounded ten villages in
Kirkuk and are targeting protesters involved in the sit-ins. Al Mada notes
Anbar protesters are pessimistic that any demands will be met. And
that probably has to do with the fact that the protests have now gone on
for over 100 days and Nouri refuses to offer any real changes.

Deutsche Welle spoke with Nineveh Governor Atheel al-Nujaifi about the protests. Excerpt.DW:You are Niniveh's most senior representative but you have openly
supported the ongoing demonstrations in Mosul and even joined them
several times over the last three months. Isn't that counterproductive?
Atheel al Nujaifi: Our local people are demanding their rights in a
peaceful way. They want basic infrastructures such as water,
electricity, and also employment; they are denouncing the abuses and
also asking to play an active role in Iraq's government. There's a
blatant lack of balance in power between Iraq's different communities
after the invasion in 2003. Today, Iraq's Sunnis are subjected to
systematic marginalization under the Shiite power in Baghdad.

President Nouri al-Maliki has denounced the "foreign agendas" behind the demonstrations in the country's Sunni provinces.

It's difficult to believe such an accusation when hundreds of thousands of people are peacefully demonstrating in the streets.

The
peaceful protesters have been targeted by Nouri. They are arrested,
they are photographed, in Falluja and Mosul they are even killed by his
forces in public, in front of tons of witnesses. Karlos Zurutuza (IPS) reports on what the protesters have to face to fight for a free Iraq:

Armoured vehicles and thousands of soldiers masked in black
balaclavas guard the entrance to the city of Mosul, 350 kilometres
northwest of Baghdad. Arriving here gives one the unmistakable feeling
of entering a territory that is still under occupation – only this time,
the Iraqi Federal soldiers, not the U.S. military, play the role of the
occupying army, locals tell IPS.
Once a key trading post on the
fabled Silk Road, Iraq’s second largest city was known for centuries for
its high quality marble, and for having revolutionised 18th century Parisian fashion through the supply of its most emblematic product: muslin.But the beginning of the 21st century brought dramatic
changes to this city on the banks of the Tigris River. Trapped in the
deadly crossfire between foreign Islamists, local insurgents and Western
occupiers for a decade, the capital of the Nineveh region is now the
scene of some of the largest anti-government demonstrations Iraq has
seen since 2003.Since last December, speeches and prayers have been strung between
large communal meals and public tea rituals in Ahrar Square, in downtown
Mosul. The same picture is also recurrent in Anbar and Salahadin,
regions of Iraq where Sunni Arabs are in the majority, and where
protests reach their peak every Friday.“The federal police seal the bridges over the Tigris and thoroughly
check those individuals that make it in to the square,” Ghanem Alabed,
coordinator of the protests in Mosul, told IPS.“They confiscate tents, blankets, mats … We have to pray on the
(hard) ground because even our small prayer rugs are taken away. They
try their best to (uproot) the camp but we still manage to sleep in the
square every night.”Being one of the most visible faces of the protests, Alabed has
received both threats and bribes from Baghdad. He says he’s not the only
one.“Can you see those men on the roof of that house?” he asks, pointing
towards a nearby building. “Those are cops and they spend the day taking
pictures of the protesters to identify them afterwards.”

And it's not just the protesters calling Nouri out, Mohammad Sabah (Al Mada) reports
Ayatollah Bashir al-Nujaifi has spoken out publicly, calling Nouri out
for the crises (plural) Iraq is facing, saying that it is due to poor
management. He noted all the billions Iraq brings in from oil and the
fact that electricity is still not consistent and that public services
continue to deteriorate. Even Nouri's ally Ammar al-Hakim, head of the Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq, sees some problems. All Iraq News quotes him admitting today, "There is depression and disappointment in the new Iraq since not all dreams have come true."

The 2013 Erbil International Book Fair, organized by the publishing
house Al-Mada for Media, Culture and Arts, showcases more than a
million books in their original languages. Erbil, the largest city in
the Kurdistan Region of Iraq,
is hosting the fair's eighth gathering, which opened April 2, in
cooperation with the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Ministry of
Culture and Youth.

The organizers this year deliberately chose not to feature books
promoting violence or sectarianism. Al-Mada general manager Ghada
al-Amili said in a statement to Al-Monitor, “There was a prior
agreement between the Ministry of Culture and Al-Mada to limit extremist
Islamic publishing houses. We imposed strict regulations and censorship
on books that incite violence and sectarianism, and we succeeded in
deterring the participation of these publishing houses, and for that we
apologize to them.”
She added, “This year, more than 1.5 million original books were
featured in the fair. They varied -- from scientific to philosophical,
translated and biographical and all other types -- in a bid to meet the
needs of buyers. We also provided extensive facilities to all
participants to ensure a high level of participation in the upcoming
years.”
Amili said, further, “More than 37 publishing houses from across 33
countries took part in this year’s fair.” Some Arab countries -- Algeria,
Morocco and Tunisia -- took part for the first time. Space for this
year's event exceeded 10,000 cubic meters.

Iraq
shares borders with many countries. To the north it's Turkey, then
Iran to the east, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to the south, Jordan and Syria
to the west. Let's start with Syria, Al Mada notes that Nouri has asked the US government for 'help' on the border Iraq shares with Syria. John Glaser (Antiwar.com) wonders if this is how the US government opens another front in The Drone War? Carlo Munoz (The Hill) adds, "If approved, the drone strikes would be a significant escalation of
American involvement in the war between Syrian rebels and embattled
president Bashar Assad. The Pentagon deployed a battery of
Patriot anti-missile systems along the Turkey-Syria border earlier this
year, but those weapons are strictly designed as a defensive measure
against any cross-border violence from Syria. The drone strikes,
however, would be the first real offensive use of American military
firepower against either side involved in the Syrian conflict." Micah Zenko (Council on Foreign Relations) offers:It is a positive sign that President Obama has (apparently) decided
not to authorize drone strikes in Iraq, and that his administration
insisted on a formal request from Baghdad before considering such a
significant policy change. Intervening on behalf of another country to
protect its borders is not something that the United States should rush
into, even if the targeted individuals are suspected of belonging to a
State Department-designated terrorist organization.In March, the Wall Street Journalreported
that the CIA had increased its covert training and support efforts to
enhance Iraq’s Counterterrorism Service forces that are focused on AQI
or al-Nusrah militants that threaten western Iraq. A senior Obama
administration official stated: “This relationship is focused on
supporting the Iraqis to deal with terrorist threats within their
borders, and not about ramping up unilateral operations.” Training and
advising another state’s security forces is a normal component of
military to military cooperation, but conducting kinetic operations for
them could quickly draw the United States into creating additional
enemies out of what are domestic and regionally-focused terrorist
groups. The CIA already serves as the counterterrorism air force of
Yemen, and, occasionally, Pakistan. It should not further expand this
chore to Iraq.
President Obama should also ask himself if the United States wants to
open up a fifth front in its campaign of non-battlefield targeted
killings, outside of Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and The Philippines.

Joan Wile: We
must stop preying on other nations with these immoral lethal weapons. The
war against terrorism cannot be justification for using killer drones that often
miss their targets and result in the deaths of children and other innocents. It
is unthinkable that our nation, the so-called beacon of democracy, orders an
anonymous person sitting in front of a screen to press a button that launches
death and destruction to people thousands of miles away. We are acting as
accuser, prosecutor, judge, jury, and executioner. Where is due process?

Joan Wile, the 81-year-old founder of Grandmothers Against the War, had
retired from activism last year to pursue her love of piano. But she
told RFE/RL that she was spurred back into action and organized the
April 3 rally out of a sense of horror at the effects that U.S. drone
strikes are having in countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"I just found the whole thing so immoral," Wile says. "In this country,
you're presumed innocent until you're found guilty. And here we were
acting as judge, as jury, and executioner, without a trial."

Over 50 participants is very good when you consider that they pulled together the protest in basically 24 hours.

Let's move over to Turkey. Aaron Hess (International Socialist Review) described the PKK in 2008,
"The PKK emerged in 1984 as a major force in response to Turkey's
oppression of its Kurdish population. Since the late 1970s, Turkey has
waged a relentless war of attrition that has killed tens of thousands of
Kurds and driven millions from their homes. The Kurds are the world's
largest stateless population -- whose main population concentration
straddles Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria -- and have been the victims of
imperialist wars and manipulation since the colonial period. While
Turkey has granted limited rights to the Kurds in recent years in order
to accommodate the European Union, which it seeks to join, even these
are now at risk." The issue of Turkey and the PKK was a topic Wednesday night on KPFA's Voices of The Middle East and Africa. (Here to stream the episode, you have until April 17th, then it's gone -- show airs every Wednesday night at 7:00 pm PST).

Malihe
Razazan: In his new year message on March 21st, the jailed leader of
the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, declared a
cease-fire and called on armed militants to withdraw from Turkish
territory. He said, "Today we are waking up to a new Middle East, a new
Turkey and a new future." Ocalan's message was warmly welcomed by the
million-strong crowd gathered in the city of Diyarbakir. The next day,
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Turkish Prime Minister
Erdogan to apologize for "operational errors" that led to loss of life
during a 2010 raid by Israeli soldiers on the Mavi Marmara ship. Nine
activists who were trying to attract the world's attention to the
Israeli blockade on Gaza were killed in that incident. Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accepted the apology and pronounced his
intention to normalize relations with Israel. Has Turkey been able to
find an answer to the Kurdish question after nearly three decades of
armed conflict between the Kurdistan Workers Party and the Turkish
state?

They spoke with UC Berkeley Associate Professor of Sociology Cihan Tugal about the events taking place.

Cihan
Tugal: This is a sea change in Turkish politics, no question about it.
And it's a sea change on multiple levels. First of all, this is the
first time when we can seriously believe that there might be a long
lasting peace even though this is still not a given fact. So the steps
taken seem to be more serious when compared to the end of the 2000s.
That is the first level. But the second level -- the possibility of
peace, that's big. But the second thing is the de facto recognition of
the Kurdish forces, of the Kurdish political movement by the Turkish
state, beyond the government, by the Turkish state. I'm still saying
"de facto recognition" because what's happening is that the Prime
Minister is still using the old vocabulary about the Kurdish movement.
He's calling them "terrorists." He is still speaking as if they are not
equal partners in peace. But the reality on the ground is that, for
the first time in the last thirty years, ever since the Kurdish
insurgents started in 1984, the Kurdish guerrilla is recognized as an
equal partner.

VOMEANA:
Cihan, the armed confrontation between Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
and the Turkish state, what were the roots of this conflict and what
were the grievances of the Kurds inside Turkey?

Cihan Tugal: The
first skirmishes, the first signs of a movement, starts at the end of
the 19th century. This is when the Kurdish tribes start to lose their
autonomy. So at first, there's a tribal resistance against the loss of
autonomy. Then this turns into an Islamic tribal resistance with the
Turkish state's move towards more secularism. With the 1920s, we start
to see a national movement and nationalist rebellions but there are
still very strong tribal and Islamic overtones. So the national question
is mixed up with -- or blended with an Islamic resistance against
secularization as well as tribal resistance against the loss of
autonomy. And there is more than a dozen rebellions from 1925 to the
major rebellion in 1938. And after that point the tribal resistance is
more or less gone and the rebellions do not show up again or the
movement itself does not show up again until the 1960s. So there is
more or less silence. Of course, it is more complex but I am
simplifying. And in the 1960s, the Kurdish movement comes back as a
Socialist, nationalist movement and it makes a lot of inroads in the
Turkish intelligentsia. So parts of the Turkish intelligentsia are
turned over to pro-Kurdish cause by the end of the 1970s and there are
many Kurdish Socialist organizations as well as mixed Socialist
organizations and one of these is going to be at the roots of the PKK.
And it's name changes a lot so that shouldn't concern us here but one of
the Maoist organizations slowly evolves into what is today known as the
PKK, the Kurdistan Workers Party. And all the other movements lose out
against the state and one major reason why the PKK survives the coup --
the military coup in Turkey in 1980 -- is because its leadership
happens to be outside of Turkey at this point. So there are conspiracy
theories about this but the visible fact is that all of the other
Kurdish organizations are crushed and they are the only remaining
Kurdish organization. Whatever remains of the other Kurdish
organizations are further marginalized or even repressed by the PKK
itself throughout the course of the 1980s. So the main voice for
Kurdish autonomy and the Kurdish rights becomes the PKK. And when we
are talking about the 1980s, it's still not only a nationalist movement,
it's both a nationalist and a Socialist movement. So there are demands
for national autonomy, linguistic rights. The demands for a separate
state comes and goes. The Kurdish movement, the PKK never becomes
completely explicit about this so sometimes it's a demand for autonomy,
sometimes federation, sometimes confederation. And all of these demands
are tied in with Socialist demands in the 1980s and after the 1980s.
So throughout the course of the 1990s, the movement gradually moves away
from Socialism and becomes a more purely nationalist movement.

VOMEANA:
You know, let's be mindful of the fact, in the 1980s witnessed a dark
period for Socialist forces and labor movement in Turkey -- as it is
also the military coup.

Cihan Tugal: Yes, exactly. I don't want
to over-generalize. Not 100% of the Socialist Turks but a good majority
of the Socialist Turks as well as the Socialist Kurds are looking at
the PKK as an ally if not a savior. It was perceived as a very positive
force among the Socialist and some of the labor movement in Turkey in
the 1980s. But that changes a little throughout the 1990s as PKK moves
away from Socialism but also liquidates the religious minority
opposition within the PKK. So there's an Alevi contingent in the PKK --
and there still is -- but they used to be a part of the leadership up
until the 1990s. And they're liquidated throughout the 1990s. And, at
the same time, the movement moves away from Socialism and, as I was
saying, it becomes more and more repressive of other Kurdish forces and
also other Socialist forces in Turkish Kurdistan.

Today, Daren Butler (Reuters) reports,
"Turkey's main pro-Kurdish political party denied on Thursday media
reports that jailed Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan had told his
fighters to leave the country without their weapons under a peace
plan."

In the US, Cindy Sheehan continues to stand up for peace. Kimberly K. Fu (Reporter) notes, "Vacaville anti-war activist and Gold Star mom Cindy
Sheehan kicked off the first leg of her 'Tour de Peace' cross-country
bike ride today, the nine-year anniversary of the death of her son in
Iraq." Bay City News explains
the Tour de Peace is "a three-month, cross-country bicycle tour to call
for peace in honor of her son, who was killed in Iraq nine years ago
today" and that "The tour will end in July in Washington, D.C., with the
final stretch from Arlington National Cemetery to the White House."
More information can be found at Tour de Peace. And we'll again note the press release:

VACAVILLE/SACRAMENTO,
Ca. – Cindy Sheehan will begin an arduous 3 month, 3,000-mile
Ride-for-Peace – dubbed "Tour de Peace" – this Thursday/April 4 from the
Vacaville grave of her son to Arlington Cemetery and White House.

She will hold a press availability at 10 a.m., Thursday (April 4) at Vacaville-Elmira Cemetery (522
Elmira Road/West Side), where her son Casey is buried. He was killed in Iraq
nine years ago.

The first leg of the 'Tour de Peace" runs from that Vacaville
gravesite in to Sacramento, about 41 miles. Supporters are expected to welcome
Cindy and the initial bike rider in Sacramento
about 6 p.m. Thursday at Sierra 2/Curtis Hall (2791 24th St.).

Cindy will be available for interviews along the route, and
in Sacramento at the end of the first leg.

WHAT: The Tour de
Peace bike ride across the United States will follow historic Route
66 to Chicago, and other roads from there on to D.C. Bicyclers will join in for all or part of the
tour, which will include public events organized by local groups along the
way.
Complete route: http://tourdepeace.org/the-route.html

The tour begins April 4, 2013, nine years after Casey
Sheehan was killed in Iraq, and 45 years after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was
killed in Memphis. It will conclude on
July 3, 2013, with a ride from Arlington National Cemetery to the White House.

WHY: This August
will mark 8 years since Cindy Sheehan began a widely reported protest at
then-President George W. Bush's "ranch" in Crawford, Texas, demanding
to know what the "noble cause" was for which Bush claimed Americans
were dying in Iraq. Neither Bush nor
President Obama has yet offered a justification for a global war now in its 12th
year. The Tour de Peace will carry with
it these demands:

To end wars,To end immunity for U.S. war crimes,To end suppression of our civil rights,To end the use of fossil fuels,To end persecution of whistleblowers,To end partisan apathy and inaction.